Protecting the Past
by Akozu Heiwa
Summary: When fifteen-year-old James Potter is given the opportunity to go back in time and save his best friend's life, he's quick to take the chance. Along with his girlfriend, Lily, James must prevent a terrible future from ever happening. Seems easy. After all, it's not like time travel could cause any big problems, right? AU. Rewrite of Fixing the Future.


Time travel is dangerous. It's stupid, reckless, and it almost never ends in something good. If you're thinking about time-travelling, I have a single suggestion for you: don't do it.

Who am I to talk, you wonder?

My name is James Potter, and I nearly caused the end of the world. By time travel.

Yup. Like I said: stupid, reckless, and dangerous.

But I guess you want the full story, huh?

It all started one fateful April day. My friends and I were hanging out in a little town called Hogsmeade in the Scottish country side. We were on a break from school- Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, to be exact. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you think I'm joking. People usually do.

Anyway, the wizarding war was in the middle of a war at the time with this guy named Voldemort. Dumb name, right? Well, the self-proclaimed supervillain had decided to attack Hogsmeade. That day. While we were there.

I got out alive.

Not everyone was so lucky.

My best friend, Sirius Black, was one of the not-so-lucky victims of the Hogsmeade Massacre, as they were calling it. The war was going badly. Dumbledore was desperate. He needed a way to change the outcome. He was nothing if not very manipulative, and he was running out of options.

That's where I come in.

After Sirius died, my life was hell. The worse the war got, the less I saw my parents. My mother was a healer. My dad was an auror- magical law enforcement. They were busy. Too busy for me, it seemed.

My girlfriend didn't have it much better. At least I still had my parents; hers were dead.

Dumbledore had a simple proposition for us. He had a device that could send us back in time- and, unlike a time-turner, we'd be allowed to change the outcome because our minds, spirits, and magic would be sent to our younger selves.

I didn't ask what would happen to our current bodies, or to our past minds.

In retrospect, it was a really, really bad idea. But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and at the time, we'd both been so blinded by grief that the idea of fixing things, of saving everyone, was almost too good to be true.

The next morning, we woke in the past.

And that is where our story _really_ begins.

* * *

"James. James. Prongs. Prongsie. _Prong-sieeee_."

I groaned, and tugged my blankets over my head. The voice was familiar, but at this ungodly hour, I could care less.

"Go away," I grumbled.

Did my voice just crack?

I was pretty sure I was done with that.

A few moments later, I was soaked.

I sat up, spluttering, and pushed hair out of my eyes to glare at my attacker. I grabbed my glasses, still glaring, and shoved them on my face. Sirius gave me a cheeky grin, now-empty bucket under one arm.

"I'll wipe that smug grin off your face," I warned him.

"Aw, Prongsie, you love me," he replied.

"If love is a synonym for eternal hatred," I retorted, "then yes, I do love you, Padfoot."

Then everything came crashing down on me.

Padfoot.

 _My_ _dead best friend, Padfoot_.

Time travel. Right.

"James...?" said Sirius unsurely. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I almost told him that I had; then I mentally shook my head. "Sorry, Pads… I had a bad dream."

The quietness of my voice seemed to have alarmed him further, but I just pushed off my covers and stood and stretched.

"I'm going to change, maybe wash my face or something," I told him. "You go on to breakfast or something."

"I'll wake the others," he said. "We'll wait for you. Take your time, mate. Are you sick? You look sick."

I shook my head mutely and grabbed some clothes. Then I headed into the bathroom to change. I stopped in front of the mirror and stared at my reflection. I was thirteen. Not too bad. Hopefully, this was before Lily's parents died.

My skin was kind of pale and I had bags under my eyes. My hair was a mess. I supposed I did look sick, even though I had generally looked like this after Sirius died. My exhaustion must have followed me into the past.

I turned on the sink and splashed some water on my face. It didn't do much. I quickly changed into my jeans and a t-shirt, slipping on my school robe over the top of it. I left the bathroom. Sure enough, Sirius and the others were waiting. Remus was pulling on his school robe. Peter waved cheerily at me and accidentally dropped his shirt.

"Yikes," said Remus. "You look awful."

"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically.

"Feeling better, Prongs?" asked Sirius hopefully.

I shrugged and stuffed my hands in my pockets.

"Come on," said Peter. "Let's get breakfast. I'm starved!"

"You're always hungry," Remus pointed out.

Peter gave him a grin and patted his round stomach. "Ah, there's always room for food."

"So, today," said Sirius as we left the dorms, "I was thinking we could prank the whole Slytherin house, but since Prongs isn't feeling well, we can bring it down to say, Snape."

"I'm not in the mood," I muttered.

The others stared at me in shock.

"You _must_ be sick," said Remus, reaching over and pressing the back of his hand to my forehead. I swatted his hand away. "No fever, but we should take you to Pomfrey just in case."

"I'm fine," I said. "I had a rough night, that's all."

"He had a bad dream," said Sirius.

"What was it about?" asked Peter. I shrugged. "Are you sure you're okay?"

 _Are you okay?_

Everyone asked that. What did they expect me to say? Yes, I'm fine?

Without thinking, I snapped back my usual response, "Oh, yeah, just peachy."

Peter flinched.

"I- sorry," I said softly. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? It- it was just a dream."

It wasn't. And I couldn't pretend that it was. But at least I could fix things. At least it wouldn't happen again.

I glanced up to Sirius. He met my eyes.

I had to look away.

We didn't speak again until we got to the Great Hall.

I made a beeline for my usual seat next to Lily, who, unsurprisingly, was already there. She gave me a bright smile and a kiss on the cheek in greeting. I took her hand under the table and squeezed it.

"Good morning, Lils," I murmured.

"Morning, James," she said.

"Sleep well?" I asked.

"I fell younger," she quipped. Her expression softened. "How are you? You look awful."

"So I've been told," I said dryly. "I'm… yeah. You get the idea."

She smiled sadly. "Yeah. I get it."

"Evans!" laughed Sirius, sitting down next to me. "Since when do you even give Prongs the time of day?"

Lily froze slightly, turned red, and gave me a pleading look.

Make up a story.

I was good at that. Acting was a skill I had quickly learned in order to ward off the people that meant well and made things worse. I'd learned quickly to suffer in silence.

"My dear Marauders, now _that_ is a story," I said smoothly. "You see, it all started last night. I was out and about- as usual, you know- and I ran into my dear Lilyflower. We had a nice little conversation-"

She coughed. "Argument."

"Fine, fine, we argued," I corrected. "Eventually, Lils got me to see the error of my ways, all that jazz, and she finally said yes."

They stared at me kind of dubiously. I winced internally. Was I too obviously lying?

Sirius barked out a laugh and slapped me on the shoulder. "Nice job, Prongsie!"

Remus still looked suspicious. He was too smart.

"Alright," he said. "Hello, Lily."

"Good morning, Remus," she said.

"So, Prongs," said Sirius, "ready for that detention this morning?"

"Detention?" I asked warily.

Lily groaned. "James Potter, what did you do this time?"

"I don't know, honest!" I said. "I was _framed_. I'm fairly positively certain I did nothing. This time."

"Mate, yesterday you gave Minnie a cupcake laced with _catnip_ ," said Sirius.

I paused. I _did_ vaguely remember that.

As if to change the subject, Lily handed me a letter. "Get this to Dumbledore. Have fun with Professor McGonagall."

"Fun," I repeated. "Socialising with someone. Real fun."

She had the gall to roll her eyes.

* * *

The rest of breakfast was uneventful. I kept as quiet as possible- a habit, I guessed. If no one noticed, no one would ask questions. Of course, being quiet at thirteen led to a lot of questions.

That I ignored, of course, or answered with a moody, "I'm fine."

Lily was doing a lot better than me, though she hesitated every time Sirius spoke to her. She kept sending me worried looks, and whenever she could she tried to make me join the conversation.

After breakfast, I headed to McGonagall's office. She didn't look up as I entered.

"Mr. Potter," she said. "I presume you know why you're here."

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Sorry about the catnip."

She gave me a surprised look, cautiously taking in my appearance and demeanour.

"Are you alright, Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said dully. "I need to talk to Dumbledore after this."

Her eyebrows raised.

"It's kind of important," I said, avoiding her eyes. "So, what did you need me to do?"

Her eyes softened. "Why don't we go see the headmaster?"

I gave her a curious look. "But my detention-"

"Mr. Potter," she said, "obviously, what you need to say to the headmaster is important. And after that, I'm taking you to Madame Pomfrey."

"Pomfrey!" I exclaimed in alarm. "I told you, I'm fine!"

"You look ill," she said. "Follow me, Mr. Potter."

I sighed and trailed after her as she left the room. She didn't talk until we reached Dumbledore's office, and she only spoke then to say the password. Dumbledore looked up with twinkling eyes as we walked in. McGonagall bit out a hello, nodded to me, and politely left the room.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore. "What have you done this time?"

"Time-travelled, sir," I said. He sat up straighter, looking shocked. I silently cheered that Sirius owed me five galleons, then I wondered if we'd even made that bet. I offered him the note. "I'm not sure what it is. I let Lily handle the details."

Dumbledore read the note silently, his expression growing grimmer by the second. At last he looked up.

"Mr. Potter… James…" murmured Dumbledore. "I am so sorry."

"Yeah, well," I muttered, "that's what everyone says. Except sorry can't bring the dead back to life."

"I assume you're here to change things?" Dumbledore asked. I nodded, giving him a defiant look. "I would typically warn against it, but… since it was I who sent you… you have my aid."

I offered him a smile. "Thanks, Professor."

"Based on the list of attacks," said Dumbledore, "the soonest is in two weeks, on a Muggle neighbourhood in Cokeworth."

"Lily's parents," I whispered. "We have to be there. We have to help them."

"Mr. Potter-"

"I'm not thirteen," I snapped. "I'm fifteen years old, and I know how to fight. I can apparate, you know. I know a variety of combat spells, even some you don't know. Lily is the same. We can handle ourselves. And if you say no, we'll just sneak out."

Dumbledore sighed. "I will advise against it, for my own sake, but I will not stop you."

"Thanks, Professor," I said.

He inclined his head. "And, James?"

"Yes?" I asked.

"Take care of yourself," he said. "And let someone in."

I looked away. "Yeah. Okay."

I head him sigh as I turned to leave. I didn't turn back.

* * *

 _I was running._

 _Sirius was in front of me, leading the way. Green and red flew around us, but we aptly dodged every beam._

 _A nightmare, then. The same as usual._

 _Suddenly, everything around me wavered. I found myself in a place I didn't recognise, with a teenage girl I didn't know. She was interesting, with dark hair and pale skin and an ethereal feeling to her. The room was simple. There was a pedestal in the centre, and pillars on opposing sides of the room. One held an hourglass, the other a snow globe that seemed to contain the universe._

 _The girl didn't seem to see me. She was studying some sort of book. A chill ran down my spine, and I realised that maybe we weren't the only ones in here. There were others. I just couldn't see them, like she couldn't see me._

" _Time has been disturbed," murmured the girl, breaking me from my thoughts. There was a rumbling sound, and she looked up in alarm. The hourglass shattered. She sucked in a sharp breath. "It's happening. Time had been disturbed."_

 _She cautiously put the book on the pedestal and walked towards the sand that had spilled from the shattered hourglass. She knelt before it, and scooped up a handful._

" _I have to tell Grandfather," she whispered._

 _And then she ran out of the room. I stepped towards the sand. It sparkled like it was mixed with glitter. Suddenly, it looked like another handful had been scooped up. I had been right. I wasn't alone._

 _There was another rumble._

 _I stumbled backwards into the pedestal, and turned._

 _The book was still open. Illustrations dotted the page, surrounding text I couldn't read. The images made little sense. At the top, there seemed to be a poem. In the centre of the page, borders by symbols I didn't know, were three pictures. A flame. A dragon. A star. Murky shadows seeping from the bottom edges or the page.. I blinked, and the darkness seemed to creep closer to the centre._

I shot upward with a gasp.

What had that been about?

I heard someone else waking up, and pulled back the curtains surrounding my bed. Sirius was sitting up in his bed, staring at his cupped hands.

"You alright, mate?" I asked hesitantly.

He didn't look up. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. I glanced at his hands, to see what he found so interesting that he couldn't tear his gaze away.

I froze.

In Sirius's hands was some of the sand from my dream.

 **A/N: Hey, remember me? Hehe… I'm back, and a better writer, and I'm actually going to make this thing make sense! Now it gets to be a trilogy, all relating the time (yay, time). Protecting the Past, Preserving the Present, and Fixing the Future. And if anyone thinks of anything better for book two… please tell me. I want to give a huge thanks to all the readers of the original FtF, and I hope you'll like this even better! It will be mostly the same, except less… uh… yeah. Obviously the intro is different. And I'm kind of going more fantasy than before. Yeah. Well, I hope you like it!**

 **I don't own Harry Potter and never will.**

 **And just in case you were wondering if you could get to know the Real Magic characters before the first book really comes out, you're in luck! I've got a Tumblr blog where you can ask the characters of my original trilogy anything!** **Check it out; just delete the spaces, replace dot with . and slash with / (FF is _weird_ ): _askrealmagic_ dot _tumblr_ dot _com_ slash _ask._**


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